Justice News

Three Area Men Sentenced to Decades in Prison for 2015 Slaying in Northeast Washington

Defendants Burst Into Apartment, Targeted Victim

WASHINGTON – Three men were sentenced today to decades in prison on felony murder and other charges stemming from the slaying of a man during a home invasion in Northeast Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Joseph Barbour, 38, Willie Glover, Jr., 40, and Charles McRae, 66, were found guilty by a jury on July 17, 2018, of murder, first-degree burglary while armed, and related offenses, following a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

Today, the Honorable Craig Iscoe sentenced Barbour to 40 years in prison, Glover to 38 years, and McRae to a 38 ½-year term of incarceration. Barbour and McRae are from Washington, D.C., and Glover is from Forestville, Md.

According to the government’s evidence, on the night of the killing, Dec. 21, 2015, the victim, Lenard Wills, was with a group of people in an apartment in the 700 block of 24th Street NE. His girlfriend was making dinner for the group when she got into a verbal argument with McRae. McRae left the apartment and came back a short time later with Barbour and Glover. One of the occupants let McRae into the apartment and, as he entered, Barbour and Glover came in behind him, wearing masks and carrying guns.

All three told the people in the apartment to get down and shut up. Barbour and Glover immediately went to Mr. Wills, who was seated at a table in the living room, and started pistol-whipping him, demanding money and drugs. McRae held down one of the occupants and punched another who tried to flee. He then pounded on the bathroom door demanding that Mr. Wills’ girlfriend come out, and punched her when she did. A struggle between Mr. Wills, Barbour and Glover ensued, during which one of the guns went off and broke apart. At some point during the struggle, Mr. Wills stabbed Barbour and Glover. McRae then came over to assist. Mr. Wills, 50, was stabbed multiple times and all three defendants fled the apartment. Mr. Wills was pronounced dead a short time later at a hospital.

Bleeding heavily, Barbour fled across the courtyard and a basketball court to his girlfriend’s apartment building. Later, while canvassing along the blood trail, officers with the Metropolitan Police Department recovered a knife in a trash can as well as Barbour’s cell phone on the basketball court. Glover, meanwhile, drove himself to an area hospital. McRae met up with several of the apartment’s occupants at a bus stop while police were canvassing the scene and told them, among other things, that what happened in the apartment was not meant for them and that if he had the gun, he would have shot Mr. Wills.

Barbour and Glover were arrested within days of the murder, and McRae was arrested in March 2016. All have been in custody ever since.

In announcing the sentences, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences. They acknowledged the efforts of those who assisted with the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Chrisellen Kolb and Daniel Lenerz; former Forensic Operation/Program Specialist Benjamin Kagan-Guthrie; Intelligence Analyst Zachary McMenamin; Criminal Investigator John Marsh; Supervisory Paralegal Specialist Sharon Newman; Paralegal Specialists Meridith McGarrity, Alesha Matthews, Stephanie Gilbert, and Kelly Blakeney; Litigation Technology Specialists Anisha Bhatia, Leif Hickling, and Jeanie Latimore-Brown; Victim/Witness Advocate James Brennan, and Witness Security Specialist Debra Cannon. Finally, they commended the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Veronica Sanchez, who investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine Earnest and Richard Barker, who investigated and prosecuted the case.